After years of consideration, Clackamas County has finally launched its first disc golf course, located at Metzler Park in Estacada. And for newly retired park ranger Victor Harshman, it came just in time.
For the last eight years, Harshman worked toward the goal of installing a disc golf course at a county park, grappling with a lack of funding and other bumps that came along the way.
But when Harshman retired last month after a 30-year career with Clackamas County, he did so with the satisfaction of having forever crossed off that longstanding entry on his to-do list.
“I’m super, super excited that it’s finally done,” he said. “I couldn’t have picked a better project to end my career with the county.”
The disc golf course was repeatedly cut from the parks budget year after year, Harshman said — until 2021, when planning and funding finally aligned.
Creating trails and other minor work is still continuing, but Harshman said word about the new disc golf course is already out and groups have been playing on it for a few weeks.
“I think the second weekend that it got going, we had 60 cars out here in the parking lot who all came to play,” Harshman said.
The course is separated — nine holes of year-round play, and 18 holes of play during the winter. The back nine holes traverse the campground area of the park and are playable only October 1 to April 30, when the campground is closed for the winter.
The county parks team worked with local nonprofits and others to make the course a reality. Disc Golf Depot in Gresham generously sold the county the baskets at cost.
And the Trail Keepers of Oregon were instrumental in building the course trails, while the disc golf community, led by Justin Wolf, designed the course and helped with the project from start to finish. Volunteers also developed signage for the course, too.
Overall, more than 500 volunteer hours were contributed to the Metzler Park Disc Golf Course.
It costs just $8 — the price of a day-use fee — to play the course. For more information, visit clackamas.us/parks.